2007 Bennetts British Superbike Championship Rounds 23 & 24 Donington Park, Leicestershire Sunday 23rd September 2007 Stobart Vent Axia VK Honda rider Tom Sykes continued his tremendous 2007 form by storming to his debut pole position at the penultimate round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Donington Park today. Following on from successful podiums at Croft and Cadwell last month, the 21 year old Yorkshireman put in a lap of 1m 30.901s which was under the existing lap record and as a result will start tomorrow’s two 20 lap races from pole position. It wasn’t quite such a good session for Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne who was hoping to replicate his pole position of Snetterton. The 30 year old Londoner ended up seventh and as a result will start from row two of the grid as the team looks to continue their good run of results. Tom Sykes: “I did a stint at the beginning of the session on a race tyre and I felt that was good enough for pole position so I was happy with that, and I know we’ve got a good race set up. I pulled my fastest lap out of the bag towards the end of the session and its all credit to the team who have done a brilliant job, although we haven’t really had to do much to the bike this weekend. I just want to get a good start tomorrow and hopefully convert the pole into a win.” Shane Byrne: “It was a bit of a tricky session, with a bit of rain around at the beginning and the second lap was the quickest of the whole session for me. We tried a different race tyre and did some more strong laps and then put a qualifier in again towards the end but I went a bit too steady on my out lap and made a mistake on the second and nearly fell down. I’ve been unlucky in qualifying and I’ve only had one good qualifying session all season and that was at Snetterton when I got pole.” Paul Bird: “I’m really pleased for Tom, he’s been threatening to do this all season long and now he’s finally managed it. It’s great for our little team that we can manage to do this sort of thing as we don’t have the factory backing like a lot of teams in this Championship. Hopefully Shakey and Tom can come up with some more silverware tomorrow.” The first of the Bennetts British Superbike races gets underway at 12.45 with the second one at 16.25, both screened live on ITV4. Qualifying: 1, Tom Sykes (Stobart Vent Axia Motorsport Honda) 1m30.901s, 2, Chris Walker (Suzuki) 1m31.055s, 3, Leon Haslam (Ducati) 1m31.109s, 4, Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 1m31.185s, 5, Cal Crutchlow (Suzuki) 1m31.255s, 6, Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1m31.399s, 7, Shane Byrne (Stobart Vent Axia Motorsport Honda) 1m31.559s, 8, Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) 1m31.620s, 9, Karl Harris (Honda) 1m31.689s, 10, Michael Rutter (Kawasaki) 1m31.953s. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki’s Chris ‘Stalker’ Walker took his best qualifying position of the season securing second place on the grid at the 12th round of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Donington Park today. Stalker spent three practice sessions building up his effort, slashing his lap times every outing on circuit. He started strong in qualification but left his best effort to the final minutes, setting a blistering pace at the 2.5-mile long twisting and challenging circuit. Cal Crutchlow was vying for the top spot on the time-sheets during every session and was challenging again in qualification but was held up by traffic on his quick laps, eventually ending up fifth fastest and heading up the second row. Honda’s Tom Sykes took pole position. Chris Walker: “I am absolutely delighted to have secured my first front row of the season. Every session we made small improvements and kept going faster and during qualification I just threw everything I had at it and second on the grid is just what my Rizla Suzuki team deserves for all their hard efforts this weekend. “It’s the podium or bust for Stalker tomorrow as I am more determined than ever to get good results for my home fans.” Cal Crutchlow: “Qualification did not go to plan, between traffic on the circuit and my qualifying tyres I didn’t really get a clean lap to go for pole position. I ended up setting a series of quick times on a race tyre instead. “The good thing is I was right on the front row pace using a tyre that will last 20-laps while many others could only record those times on two-lap sticky qualifiers. My race pace is good and the podium remains my number one target.” Simon Buckmaster – Team Manager: “After a test at Donington Park earlier in the year, we always knew Chris was going to be strong and quick here. He’s proved his speed today and is looking forward to the races and fighting for the top honours. “Cal has been impressive all weekend and his qualifying position belies a race pace that is second to none. With a bit of luck he will get on the podium tomorrow – he certainly has the bike and ability to do so – it’s what step of the podium is the next question.”